THEY’RE BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK

July 28, 2016 2:52 pm

1.2K

It’s really neat to be able to say good things about our community, and that’s pretty hard to do most of the time. I’ve gotten so used to calling out these stupid drivers that are killing off and injuring so many people that the word “SToopid” has become synonymous with S-T. Maybe I should start calling them “retards,” but that would be an insult to the mentally challenged.

Bad driving is only a symptom of the actual problems we have here. What we had (until all the negative publicity) was a lack of law enforcement, and even worse, a news blackout on the actual crime stats in our community. The statement, “If it’s not reported, it didn’t happen,” seemed to be LAPD’s way of protecting the community.

But that seems to have changed. We have had a complete LAPD turnaround and a show of strength in S-T that I haven’t seen since Capt. Symanski. Driving around on Foothill Boulevard, we’ve seen a lot more police cars. Just last night I saw three cars pulled over by the LAPD, two cars by the CHP and one by the Sheriff. Talk about “mutual assistance”! Something happened — and it’s great.

With the amount of traffic fatalities and accidents we’ve been having lately, something had to be done. Who knows, it might have been the death of Max Gonzales and the outpouring of support at his memorial that turned the tide. Whatever it was, many thanks to the LAPD for stepping up their presence here.

With all the problems that we have here, one thing we didn’t think of was what would happen if another community suffered a disaster, one that could stop life in its tracks and maybe even overflow into our community. That happened this last weekend with the Sand Fire that threatened not only the Angeles National Forest, but the possibility that it could come over the ridge and attack LVT and us.

Our local Community Emergency Response Team was nonexistent. Our civic groups were nowhere to be found. Only the equestrian community, the Foothills Trails NC and the people of Summerfest stepped up to the plate. Oh, and let’s not forget those individual volunteers that quickly mobilized their trucks and trailers to help out the Wildlife Way Station and the residents of Little Tujunga Canyon.